Tita`s resistance against patriarchal practices in Laura Esquivel`s like water For chocolate

TITA’S

RESISTANCE AGAINST THE PATRIARCHAL

PRACTICES IN LAURA ESQUIVEL’S

LIKE WATER FOR

CHOCOLATE

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

SCHOLASTICA NOVENA M. P. K. Student Number: 124214020

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2017

ii

TITA’S RESISTANCE AGAINST THE PATRIARCHAL PRACTICES IN LAURA ESQUIVEL’S LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

SCHOLASTICA NOVENA M. P. K. Student Number: 124214020

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2017

vii

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and

you will find; knock and the door will be

opened to you.

(Matthew 7: 7)

YOU NEVER KNOW HOW STRONG YOU

ARE UNTIL BEING STRONG IS THE ONLY

CHOICE YOU HAVE.

(CAYLA MILLS)

viii

FOR MY PARENTS

AND THOSE WHO

SUPPORT ME IN MY UPS

AND DOWNS

ix

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I want to thank Jesus Christ for everything He has done in my life. Even though sometimes I forgot Him, but He still loves me. My sincere gratitude is for my advisor, Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum. and my co. advisor, Sri Mulyani, Ph.D., who supported and helped me during the process of writing this thesis. Thank you for being patient and critical while accompanying me working on this thesis. I also would like to thank Mbak Ninik for the helps during my study in English Letters Department.

I want to thank my father Y. B. Sunaryo and my mother in heaven Ch. Endang S. M. who always support and believe me. Thanks for the affection and encouragement you give me. I also thank my dearest partner Mas Capung for always be with me through my good and bad times. Last, I want to thank my friends in Sanata Dharma University, especially Satrio, Dryan, Dwigo, Putra, Antoni, Gatot, Septiadi, Ikhsan, Toto, Kaka, Aprian, Kevinar, Ndoi, Dessen, Novenia, Delima, Malolo, Nicko, Satya, Halim, Dennis, Lilis, Rany, Wisnu, Alex, Hadrian, Ovi, Bella, Eka, Widya, Cicil, Vania, Stephani, Our Town family, Mbak Nur, Mbak Popon, Mbak Widi, Mbak Pita, Mbak Aya, Mbak Dita, Mbak Novi, Mbak Vindy, Mas Bito, Mas Wowok, Mas Sakha, Mas Adul, Mas Hario, Mas Samson, Mas Victor, Mas Samsul and Mas Kenan for their support, motivation, and endless friendship.

x

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ... ii

APPROVAL PAGE ... iii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ... iv

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ... v

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH _{... vi}

MOTTO PAGE ... vii

DEDICATION PAGE ... viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... x

ABSTRACT ... xi

ABSTRAK _{... xii}

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ... 1

A. Background of the Study ... 1

B. Problem Formulation ... 5

C. Objectives of the Study ... 5

D. Definition of Terms ... 6

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ... 7

A. Review of Related Studies ... 7

B. Review of Related Theories ... 10

C. Review of Related Background ... 19

D. Theoretical Framework ... 21

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ... 23

A. Object of the Study... 23

B. Approach of the Study ... 24

C. Method of the Study ... 25

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ... 28

A. The Description of the Character ... 28

1. The Description of Tita De la Garza in the First Period ... 29

2. The Description of Tita De la Garza in the Second Period ... 32

B. The Patriarchal Practices Experienced by Tita ... 38

1. Family Tradition ... 38

2. Rules of Woman’s Attitude ... 41

3. Gender Roles ... 44

C. Tita’s Resistance against the Patriarchal Practice ... 47

1. Passive Aggression ... 48

2. Direct Action ... 51

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 55

xi ABSTRACT

KUSUMA, SCHOLASTICA NOVENA MURTI PIJAR. Tita’s Resistance

Against the Patriarchal Practices in Laura Esquivel’s Like Water For Chocolate_{. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata} Dharma University, (2017).

Patriarchy is a set of system where men dominate women. The patriarchal value is believed as the product of men’s authority and it has been strongly rooted inside men’s and women’s mind. Some women are unconsciously preserving and inheriting the patriarchal value toward their daughters; some women try to get their freedom by fighting against the limitation caused by the patriarchal practice. This thesis discusses how women try to fight against the limitation from patriarchal practices as seen through the main character in Laura Esquivel’s Like Water For Chocolate.

The researcher formulates three questions to be able to come up with the analysis to gain the conclusion. The first question is about the characterization of the main character who is Tita. The second question deals with the patriarchal practices which Tita experienced. The last question discusses Tita’s resistance to fight against the patriarchal practices she experienced.

This thesis applies the theory of character and characterization, theory of gender roles, theory of feminism, and two historical backgrounds. Meanwhile, the approach used in this thesis is feminist criticism.

The researcher uses library method to gain the data. Those data consist of primary and secondary data. The primary datum is the novel Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, while the secondary data are taken from essays, journals, dictionary, internet, and some other books.

The result of this thesis shows that as a daughter Tita is obedient and patient, while as a woman Tita is skillful and caring. Later, she changes into rebellious, decisive, independent, and expressive. She experienced some patriarchal practices such as family tradition, rules of women’s attitude, and the division of gender roles. She resists against those practices through passive aggression such as questioning the family tradition and deciding not to go back home, and through direct action such as making some protests to her mother and standing for her niece’s freedom.

xii ABSTRAK

KUSUMA, SCHOLASTICA NOVENA MURTI PIJAR. Tita’s Resistance

Against the Patriarchal Practices in Laura Esquivel’s Like Water For Chocolate_{. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas} Sanata Dharma, (2017).

Patriarki adalah sebuah sistem di mana laki-laki mendominasi perempuan. Nilai patriarki diyakini sebagai produk dari otoritas laki-laki dan nilai ini telah ditanamkan secara kuat dalam pikiran laki-laki dan perempuan. Beberapa perempuan secara tidak sadar menjaga dan mewariskan nilai patriarki kepada anak perempuan mereka, sedangkan beberapa perempuan lainnya sedang berjuang untuk mendapatkan kebebasan dengan cara melawan batasan yang disebabkan oleh penerapan nilai patriarki. Skripsi ini membahas tentang cara perempuan melawan batasan-batasan dari penerapan nilai patriarki dilihat dari karakter utama dalam karya Laura Esquivel yang berjudul Like Water For Chocolate.

Penulis merumuskan tiga pertanyaan untuk bisa menarik kesimpulan. Pertanyaan pertama membahas karakter dan karakterisasi tokoh utama, yaitu Tita. Pertanyaan kedua membahas praktek nilai patriarki yang dialami Tita. Pertanyaan terakhir membahas usaha yang dilakukan Tita untuk melawan praktik nilai patriarki yang dia alami.

Skripsi ini menerapkan teori karakter dan karakterisasi, teori peran gender, teori feminism, dan dua latar belakang sejarah. Sedangkan pendekatan yang digunakan dalam skripsi ini adalah pendekatan feminisme

Penulis menggunakan metode studi pustaka untuk mengumpulkan data. Data-data tersebut terdiri dari data primer dan sekunder. Data primer yang digunakan adalah novel Like Water For Chocolate karangan Laura Esquivel, sementara data sekunder diambil dari esai, jurnal, kamus, internet, dan beberapa buku lain.

Hasil skripsi menunjukkan Tita adalah anak yang sabar dan penurut, sedangkan sebagai seorang perempuan Tita memiliki sifat perhatian dan berbakat. Lalu dia menjadi pemberontak, tegas, mandiri, dan ekspresif. Dia mengalami beberapa praktik nilai patriarki seperti tradisi keluarga, aturan tentang perilaku perempuan, dan pembagian peran gender. Dia melawan praktik nilai patriarki melalui agresi pasif dengan mempertanyakan tradisi keluarganya dan memilih untuk tidak kembali ke rumah, dan melalui aksi langsung seperti memprotes keputusan ibunya dan memperjuangkan kebebasan keponakan perempuannya.

1

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Oppression represents the dominance of something toward another thing, which later creates differences between the major and minor. Oppression is oftenly related to women in patriarchal society. In this case, women are the objects of the oppression, they are dominated by men (Abberley, 1987: 5).

In relation to women oppression, the researcher discusses about women and patriarchy in Mexico. The Mexicans are very religious, the Catholic Mexicans believe in Lady Guadalupe as the symbol of innocence and purity, and declare her as the role model for Mexican women (Fernandez, 2009: 55). The Mexicans also believe that Lady Guadalupe is the keeper of Mexico (ethnomed.org).

Besides being very religious, the Mexicans also respect the value of family’s hierarchy and structure (livescience.com). The Mexicans practice familismo, which prioritizes family matters before any individual matters. Therefore, they commonly live with their big whole family in the same neighborhood which means that there will be some family structures inside the extended family such as parents, grandparents, and children (family.lovetoknow.com). The parents are highly respected by the children. Their respect toward the parents sometimes causes a struggle between obeying the parents’ rule and pursuing self needs (livescience.com).

Mexican society is dominated by patriarchal norms in all parts of their life such as decision making and it is started from the family, as Anderson said:

Within the Mexican family system, authority and prestige were allocated on the basis of an ascribed age/gender status with male authority over women receiving a strong ideological sanction (1996: 93).

The Mexicans live in an extended family (Riding, 1984: 10) with their division of gender roles based on patriarchal norms. The roles as Mexican men are called machismo. Machismo is described as male behaviors, which contain masculinity performances such as being a father which means he is protective, the fore bearer, and he is the one who provides the family needs (Englander, Yáñez, and Barney, 2012: 68).

The descriptions as a machismo are not only about the positive sides but also the negative sides. The descriptions above are the positive sides of machismo. The negative sides of a machismo are being aggressive and dominating others. The domination of a man is not only toward women but also in the interpersonal relationships among men (Englander, Yáñez, and Barney, 2012: 68). Outside the family, men are also expected to have domination over other men. They tend to pursue recognition as being more powerful than another man. A simple example is two Mexican men competing in arguing over some topics where the argument will end with one “winner” whose argument cannot be challenged. The winner will get respect from the other men (GlobalSecurity.org). The privilege as a machismo is that a man is the one who takes control of decision making in his family. The father or the sons usually are the decision maker and their decision is absolute. In other words, the men take domination in the family (family.lovetoknow.com).

On the contrary, the roles of Mexican women are called marianismo. The obligations as a marianismo is being a mother with love and sacrifice to the family (Englander, Yáñez, and Barney, 2012: 69), which contains activities such as breeding, cooking, as well as taking care of the children, husband, and the house. In a nutshell, women’s roles are about domestic areas (family.lovetoknow.com). Mexican women also should be bounded to the man in the family (GlobalSecurity.org) for example; a wife cannot challenge her husband’s decision whatever it is.

In relation to the role as a mother, women in Mexico are determined as the center of morality (Anderson, 1996: 94) so it is not surprising that there are so many rules on women’s behavior, as Anderson said, “Ideally, a young girl was to be pious, obedient, and virginal until marriage, chaste after marriage” (1996: 94).

This determination is very important so that the whole family will try to protect or limit their daughters from the outside world until they get married. The mother is expected to internalize the traditional norms to the daughters so that the daughters can be the keeper of the norms and know how to be a good woman as expected there (family.lovetoknow.com).

Even though women have important roles in the family, they are underestimated. Women are considered powerless and less educated. Therefore, it is impossible for women to obtain education as men, as stated “They think that it’s kind of impossible for a female to be educated and support herself” (thisibelieve.org). Women are also limited in terms of behavior. A wife is expected to ask for, follow, and agree with her husband’s decision (family.lovetoknow.com).

Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate has a setting of Mexican Revolutionary War. During that period, patriarchal culture was still practiced and inherited among the generations. Before the war began until its beginning, Mexican women were oppressed by patriarchal norms.

...Mexican Revolution in the years between 1911 and 1920.¹ At this time in Mexican history, a patriarchal society constrained women and limited their lives in nearly every aspect (Fernandez, 2009: 53).

This novel is worth to be discussed since it contains many interesting information about Mexico and the Mexicans. The novel is also attractively arranged by Esquivel by providing monthly recipe of Mexican food in the beginning of each chapter. Besides, there is an issue which attracts the researcher’s curiosity that is the oppression towards women which is not only done by men, but also by women. As it has been stated above, the mothers should deliver the traditional norms to the daughters. It means during the process of internalization and socialization of the norms, there will be a kind of oppression to the daughters so they will be obedient to accept the norms (family.lovetoknow.com).

In Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate, there is a girl named Tita who struggles against her mother named Mama Elena. She fights against her mother’s authoritativeness and oppression. By fighting her mother, she also fights against the traditional culture in Mexican society which limits women’s freedom. B. Problem Formulation

To help the readers understand the topic stated above, the researcher provides some questions to support the analysis. They are:

1. What are the descriptions of Tita’s characteristics? 2. What are the patriarchal practices experienced by Tita?

3. How does Tita resist against the patriarchal practices she experienced?

C. Objective of the Study

The researcher formulates the problems as such in order to maintain the focus in revealing Tita’s resistance against the patriarchal norms in her surroundings. The first problem formulation aims at describing Tita’s characteristics through her way of thinking and action. By understanding her characteristics, the researcher will be able to know Tita in personal explanation. Later, it can be used to find the patriarchal practices Tita experienced and her reaction to those practices.

The second problem formulation aims at revealing the patriarchal practices experienced by Tita, whether it is direct or indirect. By understanding the patriarchal practices experienced by Tita, the researcher will be able to identify the oppression that she suffered from and it can also be known the resistance of Tita against the patriarchal practices.

The third problem formulation is aimed at revealing Tita’s resistance against the patriarchal practices she experienced and whether it happened to her directly or indirectly. This way, the researcher will be able to understand more about how Tita reacts, responds, and solves her and other women’s suffering from the practices of patriarchy.

D. Definition of Terms

There are some terms which are used in this research. Therefore, to support the understanding of the reader, the researcher provides the definitions of these terms.

1. Resistance

Resistance is an action of someone against some rules which are felt to push him or her. As it is stated in “Glossary of Women’s Studies Terms”

A variety of techniques employed by oppressed people as a reaction to oppression, ranging from passive aggression to social critique, direct action and open rebellion (grccwomenstudies.files.wordpress.com).

2. Patriarchy

Patriarchy is a set of system in which women are dominated by men. As Hartmann said in her article in Women’s Studies A Reader, patriarchy is defined as

… a set of social relations which has a material base and in which there are hierarchical relations between men and solidarity among them which enable them in turn to dominate women (1993: 14).

7

CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

A. Review of Related Studies

Laura Esquivel wrote her Like Water for Chocolate in 1989 then it was filmed by her husband, Alfonso Arau in 1991. Laura involved more or less four themes in this story: self-growth, cruelty and violence, tradition, and food. There are some studies which more or less have the same focus as this thesis. The first related study comes from a student of Sanata Dharma University, Caroline Guntoro’s undergraduate thesis titled The Reaction of Tita Against Her Mother’s Rules in Laura Esquivel’s Like Water For Chocolate. In her thesis, Guntoro uses psychoanalytical approach. Her thesis reveals Tita’s reaction to the limitation given by Tita’s mother. Guntoro analyzes Tita’s reaction through her five main characteristics which are submissive, patient, loyal, care, and creative (2016: viii). Besides, Guntoro also analyzes Tita’s unconscious mind which craves for freedom from her mother’s oppression. Later, her repressed feeling to gain freedom supports her to take action in order to break her mother’s rules, as stated

This thesis uses psychoanalysis approach, because the writer wants to show the interaction of unconscious and conscious mind of Tita that the unconscious mind of Tita is her mother’s rule of marriage and the other rules which are not related to the marriage, which are then impulses out of consciousness through her four reactions to break her mother’s rules (2016: viii).

The second related study is Carole Counihan’s writing from Millersville University titled “Food, Feelings and Film: Women’s Power in Like Water for Chocolate”. Counihan stated that food in this story is important since each chapter of the story began with various recipes, “Food is a central focus and symbol in the

film. The many close-up shots of food being prepared, served, and eaten emphasize its social and symbolic centrality” (2005: 202). Food is also assumed as the voice of women and their emotions. She tried to define each character’s relation with food in the novel through their responds to their food.

I will discuss how the four main female characters—the protagonist Tita; her mother, Mama Elena; and her two sisters, Rosaura and Gertrudis—relate differently to food. I will also look at two principal male characters in the film—the Mexican Pedro, the object of Tita’s passion, and the Anglo doctor John Brown, who loves her in vain. Finally,

I will also look at how the film defines the relationships of the Indian servants Nacha and Chencha to food, and those of the two Anglo women in the film: John’s aunt and his housekeeper, Sue Ellen. I suggest that in these different relationships the film posits answers to the question of how women can gain power through food (2005: 202).

Tita, the main female character, who was at the beginning of the story told as a girl who was oppressed by her mother finally could fight her mother

back. Her struggle towards her mother’s authoritativeness was not in a form of cruelty, violence, or arguments yet it is in a form of cooking. Through her cooking, she delivered her repressed feeling and she could express her freedom which was limited by her mother.

The inversion of oppression to empowerment is shown from Tita’s

creativity in producing many kinds of delicious food that impress her surroundings. Mama Elena tries to subordinate Tita’s autonomous will by

cruel repression in the kitchen, but Tita fights back with food (2005: 204).

As have been stated above, Counihan’s writing is focused on the food and recipes as the symbol of Tita’s resistance. She emphasizes Tita’s struggle

against her mother and the society through her skill in cooking. Her capability of cooking shows that she mastered her role as a woman and showed that her territory is not only inside but also outside the kitchen.

Another related study about women’s resistance against patriarchy can be found in a Sanata Dharma University student, Ruth Bunga Ongi Karyanto’s undergraduate thesis titled The Character of Ruth in Weldon’s The Life and Loves of a She-devil: A Portrait of A Feminist. The novel told about an unattractive woman named Ruth. She was married to a handsome accountant by accident. Her husband oppressed and looked down on her. Ruth made a movement to fight against her husband by developing her intelligence and losing her weight. In the end, she could prove her husband that she was able to do what men could do, especially in earning money.

In her thesis, Karyanto focuses on Ruth’s quality development as a woman. By focusing on that part, she wants to reveal the portrayal of a feminist through Ruth’s action. As stated in her thesis

… this feminist idea can be clearly observed by the representation of Ruth Patchett as a feminist character in the novel. Ruth’s reaction toward

her subordination conforms to feminism’s goal to define herself not as an insignificant one any longer, but as a valuable person who has the same privileges and rights as men (2003: 2).

Karyanto’s thesis more or less discusses how a woman through her self-development fights against men’s oppression. The rebellion of Ruth by improving her intelligence, working, and fixing her physical appearance show that actually a woman can gain gender equality.

Some of those related studies have common concern with this thesis which is about women’s movement. Yet, this thesis concerns on different idea from the previous studies. It gives more attention to the reaction of a woman who is oppressed by other women. Generally, the oppression towards women is done by men because they have the ideas of patriarchal which dominates all the aspect of life and makes women as inferior than men. Therefore, this research tries to reveal the resistance of Tita towards the oppression from her mother and her sister.

B. Review of Related Theories

To analyze the problem in the story, the researcher uses some theories which are related to both intrinsic and extrinsic elements of the story. Those theories are explained in the following paragraphs.

1. Theory of Character and Characterization

A story must be consisted of some names of the actors told in the plot. Those actors are known as the characters of the story, including their emotions

and morality. Abrams in d A Glossary of Literary Terms stated

Characters are the persons represented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with particular moral, intellectual, and emotional qualities by inferences from what the persons say and their distinctive ways of saying it… (1999: 32).

Character is divided into two types which are flat and round. Flat character is a character whose characteristics do not change during the story. On the contrary, a round character is a character that is going through some changing of his or her characteristics during the story (Abrams, 1999: 33).

The way the characters are characterized is called characterization. According to Abrams, there are two methods of characterization: telling and showing (1999: 33). In telling method, the author is the one who describes the characters while in showing method the characters talk and act to describe their characteristics. Their dialogues and actions may contain of some implicit thoughts and characteristics which are not shown by their physical appearances.

According to M. J. Murphy, characterization of a character can be seen through nine methods. Those methods are personal description, characters as seen by another, speech, past life, conversations of others, reactions, direct comment, thoughts, and mannerism. Personal description is a physical and appearance details of a character (1972: 161-173).

The explanation of characters as seen by another means the opinion of other characters about a character. Speech means the way a character talks or says

something. Past life is like background knowledge about a character which affects and shapes this character’s characteristics. Conversations of others are what other characters say about a character. A reaction is how a character responds to a certain situation. Direct comment is like a telling method to describe a character. Thought is knowledge about what a character’s thinking, and mannerism is how a character behaves (1972: 161-173).

The methods of characterizing from Abrams and Murphy actually have same main methods which are telling and showing. Murphy elaborates the showing method in various ways which make the characterizing of a character deeper.

2. Theory of Gender Role

Gender is a socialized behaviors and expectations related to men and women (Andersen, 1997: 383). While gender roles is a state of how someone should behave in the society based on their sexes, as Andersen stated: “Gender roles are the expectations for behavior and attitudes that the culture defines as appropriate for women and men” (1997: 31).

Men are known for their masculinity and women for their femininity. Those are the stereotype given to both gender from the society. If men are not masculine and women are not feminine, they will be considered as inappropriate (sociology.org). Related to the term of masculinity (Connel, 2005: 830), Connell

in her writing used a term “hegemony masculinity” which refers to the pattern of practices that allows men’s dominance over women to continue.

Gender differences before the 19th century became the study field of theologians. Women and men were created for different goals. The Rev. John Todd and his supporters tried to persuade women that they would get independence, wealth, and renown in man's sphere, while their only safety and happiness are patiently, lovingly, and faithfully performing the duties and enacting the relations of their own (Kimmel, 2000: 22). From that, we can conclude that women were given the ideology that they are inferior and only can be safe or happy if they obey the rules and limitation made by men.

In the context of a family, the parents educate the children based on gender custom. Since their childhood, their parents differentiate the toys given to them. Boys are given toys which stimulate their creativity, aggressiveness, and fantasy, while girls are given toys which teach them to have a sense of affection, creativity, and to be attractive, as stated:

Toys rated as "boys' toys" were also rated as high in the promotion of symbolic or fantasy play, competition, constructiveness (adding pieces or combining with another toy to create something new), handling, sociability, and aggressiveness; "girls' toys" were rated higher on manipulability (ease of removing and replacing parts), creativity, nurturance, and attractiveness (Lips, 1989: 3).

3. Feminism

This feminism theory is based on a thought of gender inequality that

oppresses women’s freedom. The women movement in 1960s was not the

beginning of feminism. At that time, there was a revision of some old traditions and thoughts of gender equality in society (Barry, 2002: 121). The feminist criticism focuses on how to gain the equality between men and women. The movement of the feminists varies but the first movement they made was in literature field.

Their movement in the field of literature aims to protest the portrayal of women in the provided literary works at that time (Barry, 2002: 121). Their involvement in the literature field has purpose to revise the common portrayal of women by the male authors. Their portrayal in literature was considered as a form of patriarchal influence since it provided role models which represented women’s acceptable attitudes and feminine version in the society. In the late of 1970s, there was a shift attention from andro-texts (books by men) to gyno-texts (books by women) (Barry, 2002: 122- 123).

Faludi, an American feminist writer, writes reports which stand for the unmarried, career-minded, or divorced women. Those women are often addressed as spinster because they get the difficulties to get married. The difficulties are the small numbers of single men, busy about the career, and infertility (Snodgrass,

2006: 44). Later, she focuses on gender inequality in working field. She concentrates on how women get unjust treatment as workers.

Faludi concentrates on serious matters of unequal pay, mistreatment in the workplace, relegation to pink-collar jobs, unfair layoffs, sexual harassment, and limited promotions of qualified women (Snodgrass, 2006: 44).

Women movement to fight against the patriarchy is the sign of their resistance of the unjust treatment they get:

Calling upon the history of a glorious Indigenous past, Chicano movement discourse introduced the Indian as a symbol of Mexican-American disenfranchisement and resistance. The use of the Indian has continued to the present as Chicana/o activists, artists, and authors have recovered a variety of Indigenous cultural traditions to elaborate political agendas and identity formations (Contreras, 2008: 40). Resistance means fighting against the rules which oppress her. The forms of the resistance vary such as, passive aggression, social critique, direct action, and open rebellion (grccwomenstudies.files.wordpress.com).

Women resistance through direct action starts within their involvement in literature writing. Laura Esquivel, a Mexican writer also the author of the novel which the researcher uses for this thesis, shows women’s power through the existence of women characters who strengthen and help each other. She also emphasizes the natural characteristics of women:

The bonding of Tita with her nanny, the wise woman Nancha, and with Tita’s sister Gertrudis attests to the female strengths that dispel hopelessness … Magical events, particularly Tita’s production of breast milk to feed her hungry enhances themes of womanly passion and mother love (Snodgrass, 2006: 176).

C. Review of Related Background 1. Patriarchy in Mexican Society

Patriarchy is a system where men have domination toward women which results that men are superior and have economic privilege (Andersen, 1997: 356). The radical feminists concluded that the origin of patriarchy began when men felt that women could establish themselves better than men; and to prevent the situation to develop, men use force to conquer women (1997: 356).

The patriarchy in Mexico is strongly rooted. Men in Mexico are considered as the dominants in the society (Mirande, 1979: 474). In family, men get the highest level among the family members. As Mirande stated that:

There is a long tradition in social science literature which uses the concept of machismo to explain the alleged pathology of the Mexican family… Such studies have been psychoanalytically oriented and have sought to identify a modal Mexican personality type1 (1979: 474).

As has been explained above, machismo is the roles of Mexican men. These roles determine the proper behavior of men so they can be approved as the expectation of the society (GlobalSecurity.org). In Mexican society, men have privileges to be dominant, superior, and even to do violence toward women in order to make them be submissive, as stated:

Machismo in Latino families has been assumed to encourage aggressive, violent, authoritarian behavior in men, and saintly, virginal, submissive behavior in women” (Andersen , 1997: 171)

The appliance of men’s dominance actually is a product of the past traumatic. In the past, Mexico was conquered by the Spanish. During the conquest,

the Mexicans especially the men felt weak and powerless (Mirande, 1979: 474). Therefore, the forms of dominancy, masculinity, and oppression toward women in Mexico are considered as the restitution of their powerlessness during the Spanish conquest, as Mirande stated:

The powerless, colonized man is seen as compensating for feelings of inadequacy and inferiority by assuming an over-masculine and aggressive response (1979: 474).

Since Mexican is a patriarchy-based society, women from their very early age are accustomed to be inferior and lack of ability. As fathers, men pay more attention to the sons than the daughters. Those fathers educate the sons more than the daughters. The daughters are treated gently but they do not get enough attention and education, as Lips stated:

Mexican families by Phyllis Bronstein (1984) showed that, when interacting with their school-aged children, fathers but not mothers listened more to boys than to girls and were more likely to show boys than to show girls how to do things. In contrast, they treated girls especially gently, but with a lack of full attention and a readiness to impose opinions on them (1989: 3).

Besides limiting women’s education, the patriarchal norms rule women to be submissive and obedient. Mexican women have to accept any behavior of their husband without questioning it. As Mirande said:

He is … who demands complete respect, deference, and obedience from his wife as much as from his children. She is to literally honor and obey him, despite his many transgressions. In fact, a woman who questions the authority of her husband is likely to be punished and physically abused … (1979: 475).

The women even should be thankful for the punishment since it is a form of love from their husband (Mirande, 1979: 475). Another limitation from patriarchal norms toward Mexican women is that women’s authorities are only about the domestic things such as breeding, cooking, and serving the family. As Sahagún stated:

for virtually all of these women's missiles must be understood as supremely feminine symbols, sweeping, spinning, and caving having been exclusively female tasks in prehispanic Central Mexico (Sahagún, 1953-82: 96).

Further, patriarchal norms mandate women to keep themselves virgin before they get married. Virginity is a must for Mexican women so that they can be considered as good women. It is stated by Gordillo;

Mexican Porfirian elites (1876–1910) expressed moral indignation “over adultery, over the loss of virginity before matrimony, over sex without reproductive ends, over the exhibition of women’s unclothed legs, and over the knowledge of anatomy (2010: 66).

The patriarchal norms which limit women’s freedom are strongly supported by religion law in Mexico. The Catholic Church and the religious Mexicans expect that women should be inferior to their husbands. They even consider feminism as a threat to the Church (Andersen, 1997: 241). The Church also creates the portrayal of women as role models, which are Lady Guadalupe (the virgin) and La Malinche (the whore). Women have to follow the portrayal of Lady Guadalupe to be considered as a good woman (ocean.otr.usm.edu). Lady Guadalupe is a portrayal of innocence and purity, and she never complains about

her destiny (Fernandez, 2009: 55) while, La Malinche is a portrayal of a betrayer (mexicolore.co.uk). Therefore, La Malinche symbolizes a bad woman.

For the Mexicans (Latino or Chicana), religion helps them to strengthen the bonds between families and friends in order to face industrialization and bureaucratic public life (Anderson, 1997: 241). Therefore, although the religion is felt as oppression, the people still hold on to and are even influenced by it because it has benefits for them.

2. Mexican Revolution and Gender Roles

In 1910- 1917, there was a Mexico Revolutionary War. This war was aimed to overthrow Porfirio Diaz. The revolutionaries wanted to take back their freedom since Diaz was a dictator. The interesting thing from the revolution was that not only men but also women joined the war. The women soldiers were called soldaderas (Fernandez, 2009: 53).

By joining the war, the Mexican women proved their equality with men. Yet, there were some portrayals of soldaderas which degenerate their value as revolutionaries. The soldaderas were portrayed as promiscuous fighter (Fernandez, 2009: 53), when actually the duty of a soldadera was helping the soldiers as stated:

… The word soldadera has its origins in the Spanish Conquest. The soldaderas were responsible for aiding the army by finding food and caring for injured soldiers. The term has also been applied to Spanish women who fought during the Conquest. As Spanish became Mexico’s

language after the conquest, the term soldadera was used to describe all women who fought and aided in the Mexican conflicts (2009: 53).

In the development, during the Mexican revolution, some Mexicans moved to the United States in order to avoid the dangerous situation and or to look for brighter future (Anderson, 1996: 92). In the United States, the Mexican suffered from cultural shocks especially the women as Anderson stated:

For Mexican-origin women, their place between and within two changing cultures caused ambiguity, conflict, and difficulty. Their different traditions regarding gender and their unique place in the American political economy placed them in an ambivalent position relative to the dominant culture (1996: 93).

There were role shifting within the Mexican families in the United States. Women’s duty was not only the domestic area, they expanded their duty to working outside the house. Therefore the use of birth controls was increasing (1996: 93). Many Mexican women still did their natural role as a culture bearer but they also expanded their area of roles, as Anderson stated that:

Although they were expected to be culture bearers and they fulfilled this expectation in many ways, Mexicanas also used their roles as mothers, homemakers, consumers, and workers to transform Mexican American culture (1996: 93).

The expansion of women’s roles was not all accepted by the men. Some of them preferred to have a private family which meant that they limited their family circle out of the Americans so that they could keep their nature as Mexicans. The actual purpose of private family is actually to keep the male dominance over the women. It is stated by Anderson that:

For many Mexicanos, the maintenance of a public posture of male dominance and the retention of women's isolation from Anglo and other outsiders served to secure masculine identity, self-esteem, and power (Anderson, 1996: 132).

D. Theoretical Framework

The researcher uses three theories and two historical backgrounds to do this research. The first theory is the theory of character and characterization. This theory is used to analyze the story from the character’s type and his or her characteristics and characterization, which is one of the intrinsic elements. By using this theory, it is expected that the characteristics and characterization of the character can be revealed and its significance to the story can be understood, for example Tita’s characterization towards her mother.

The second theory is theory of gender roles. This theory is used to strengthen the previous theory. This theory will explain more about gender role’s classification and stereotype especially in Mexican society. Through this theory, it can be known how a man and woman are shaped since their childhood. It is expected that we can understand why a character does something or behaves in a certain way related to her gender roles.

The third theory is the theory of feminism. This theory concerns on women movement which fights against the patriarchal practice. The women movement results in the form of resistance. This theory also concerns on the gender inequality told along the story. The inequality creates distinction between

the characters in the novel, especially in their reaction toward family tradition. Therefore, from the novel we can find the gender inequality seen from the reaction of the characters.

The last is the historical backgrounds. The first is about the patriarchy in Mexican society. This background is used to give knowledge about the condition of Mexican society in relation to gender and the cause of the patriarchy in Mexico. This background concerns on why the men in Mexico oppress and dominate the women. By using this background, it can be understood why many patriarchal values seem to give unjust treatment toward women.

The second background is Mexican Revolution and gender role. This background is used to understand deeper about Mexican society, including their history and appliance of patriarchal norms. The researcher will relate it to the character’s behavior within her family and surroundings. Then, it can be understood the relation between the woman main character’s action and the women’s action in real life at that period.

23

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

This research analyzes a fiction novel of a Mexican writer Laura Esquivel titled Like Water for Chocolate. The novel is written in 1989, and filmed in 1992 (biography.com). The first version of the story is written in Spanish with title Como Agua para Chocolate. This novel has been translated from the original Spanish into many languages. The English translation is done by Carol and Thomas Christensen and published by Anchor Books publisher in its first edition on November 1995. The novel is originally published in hardcover in the United States by Doubleday in 1992.

This novel is filmed in 1992, directed by Alfonso Arau. The film gets all 11 Ariel awards of the Mexican Academy of Motion Pictures, including the Ariel Award for Best Picture. This novel is sold over 4.5 million copies (biography.com). This film is the highest grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the United States at the time. The Washington Post states that the story in Like Water for Chocolate is the portrayal of the Mexican feminism.

This story is dominated by Mexican culture, even it has the setting of the Mexican Revolution. Laura wrote this story in monthly installments, and she

always began the story with Mexican recipes. The genre of this story is romance and magical realism. Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate mainly tells about women and tradition. It tells about a daughter who keeps struggling to get her freedom from the family tradition which is applied by her mother, Mama Elena.

B. Approach of the Study

In relation to the topic chosen in this research, feminist criticism is employed in the discussion. Feminist criticism focuses on women’s ability to gain gender equality in many aspects of life through their own acts and choices. This criticism believes that the limitation given to women comes from men’s authority. Women are considered to be inferior to men especially in the aspect of working skill, ability, and education. They are portrayed as only the controller of kitchen and any other feminine activities which do not need their intellectuality.

Bressler states in his book titled Literary Criticism that:

… Women, they declare, are people in their own right; they are not incomplete or inferior men. Despite how often literature and society fictionalize and stereotype women as angels, barmaids, bitches, whores, brainless housewives, or old maids, women must break free from such oppression and define themselves (1999: 189).

This criticism covers the issues found in the work by the researcher because it represents the woman character in the story who tries to free herself from such oppression given to her. The oppression given is the product of patriarchy which limits her freedom to be the woman she wants.

In 1960s, women’s representation in literature is considered as a form of patriarchal socialization. It provides the acceptable versions, roles, and aspirations of women (Barry, 2002: 122). In Virginia Woolf’s essay “Profession for Women”, she mentions about „Angel in the house’. The angel refers to women, whose duties are to take care of the household activity, such as take care of the husband and children, cook, and to take care of her beauty. In her essay, she tells her experience about her first time of writing. She doubts her ability in writing. She says that the Angel, as the phantom, which represents the old thought about women, tells her not to let anyone know that what she writes is from her own mind.

… My dear, you are a young woman. You are writing about a book that has been written by a man. Be sympathetic; be tender; flatter; deceive; use all the arts and wiles of our sex. Never let anybody guess that you have a mind of your own (Woolf, 1931).

The case in Woolf’s essay represents the situation in Tita’s life. The limitation she gets from her mother and the patriarchal practices restricts her to be herself, just like the woman in Woolf’s essay. The term „angel in the house’ also represents the women in Mexico whose obligations are to take care of the family and domestic areas.

This approach is applied as the point of view to identify each reaction of Tita towards the patriarchal oppression. Therefore, when analyzing everything about Tita in the story, the researcher always relates it to the gender role issues, especially women’s role. The focuses of the observation are the oppression,

inequality, and limitation to women from women’s perspective.

This approach helps the researcher to understand Tita’s resistance and how women themselves think and react about their relation with tradition so that women choose to follow the tradition or fight against it. Therefore, this approach is appropriate to analyze this story.

C. Method of the Study

This research is done through a library research. The literary work is analyzed through contextual step, which is based on the novel. This step is used in order to gain deeper understanding about Tita’s characteristics which influence her resistance against the limitation.

The primary sources which are used in this research are mainly from books. They are the novel, some books of theories, articles, and journals which have relation to the topic of the research. In order to support the findings from the books, the researcher uses the secondary sources which are from internet. The researcher opens some websites which have related topic with the research, and uses them as the supporting idea of this research.

Before analyzing the story further, the researcher formulates two questions or research problems. Those questions are made in order to keep the focus of this research. After that, the researcher looks for some studies which had relation to this research’s topic. The related studies are used as the comparison

between this research and those previous studies. The researcher compares the concern of the studies. If the main concern is similar, the researcher uses her research as the development of the previous studies.

To help the researcher reaching the purpose, there are some theories used to gain the conclusion. The first theory is used to find the characteristics of the main character. After finding the characteristics, the researcher uses the theory of feminism which concerns about patriarchy in Mexico and gender roles theory to analyze patriarchal practices that Tita experienced, and then they are used to understand the significance between the characterization and the gender roles of the character.

Therefore, it is known how the character reacts to and fought against the limitation. After that, the researcher relates the previous results to the historical background so that the researcher finds the cause of the limitation and the reason of the character’s rebellion. The researcher keeps working on those results to produce or create the analysis of this research. After finishing the analysis, the researcher makes conclusion about the research.

28

ANALYSIS

A. The Description of the Character

This research mainly discusses the main character’s responses to the patriarchal practice which she experienced. The main character in this novel is Tita De la Garza. It is important to describe the character’s characteristics in order to be able to analyze everything about her deeper. Tita is a round character, which means she has some changes of her characteristics as the time goes on. As a woman, Tita is expected to master the domestic cores such as cooking so that she can take care of her family especially her mother. Tita is a skillful woman especially in cooking and sewing. Since her childhood Tita is brought up by her cook Nacha. She grows up and spends her whole life in the kitchen. Nacha teaches her everything about cooking so that she becomes a good cook. She has a strong intuition about food.

As a woman, Tita is also expected to be able to take care of her family’s needs. Her intuition as a woman leads her to be a caring person. She has big empathy for people around her. She is being good not only to people who treat her well, but also to those who treat her badly. Tita with her big heart takes a good care of people around her. When her sister Gertrudis runs away from their house,

willing to take care of her nephew Roberto, who is the son of her lover Pedro and her sister Rosaura. Her care toward Roberto shows that as an aunt with a mother’s role, Tita is a really caring person.

As a daughter, she still cares about her mother. She is willing to come back home and serves the needs of her mother although she knows that comes back home means being oppressed again. When her mother died, she cried for her because she revealed the secret of her mother’s feeling which was full of sorrow.

Besides being a skillful and caring woman, in the beginning of the story Tita is described as an obedient girl yet, in the middle of the story there is the death of her nephew, Roberto, which changes her reaction toward the patriarchal practices. Therefore, the researcher divides Tita’s characteristics into two periods, the first period is before Roberto’s death and the second period is after Roberto’s death.

1. The Description of Tita De la Garza in the First Period

Tita is the last daughter of De la Garza family, her sisters are Rosaura and Gertrudis. Her father died when she was a child, then her mother Mama Elena takes the responsibility of the family. All of the people in the ranch obey Mama Elena’s commands. Since her childhood, Tita was brought up in the kitchen by the ranch cook, Nacha. Therefore, Tita knows well how to cook, and she becomes the

daughter of the family to get married and she should take care of her mother until her mother died. The descriptions of Tita are discussed further in the following explanation.Those descriptions show the qualities of Tita as a daughter, woman, and aunt. The description of Tita is based on the theories of Abrams and Murphy.

Tita De la Garza is described as an obedient daughter. As a daughter, Tita is expected to follow Mama Elena’s command. Mama Elena in the novel is depicted as an authoritative, independent, and strict mother. Her three daughters: Rosaura, Gertrudis, and Tita always do what their mother says. None of them dares to protest her. Since their childhood, Tita and her sisters live with obedience to her mother’s commands, as seen below:

Then Mama Elena would say: "That's it for today." For a good listener, it is said, a single word will suffice, so when they heard that, they all sprang into action. First they had to clear the table, then they had to assign tasks: one collected the chickens, another drew water for breakfast from the well, a third was in charge of wood for the stove. There would be no ironing, no embroidery, no sewing that day. When it was all finished, they went to their bedrooms to read, saytheir prayers, and go to sleep (Esquivel, 1989: 10).

Only with saying “That’s it for today”, Mama Elena makes all the people in her house stopped doing anything. Those people will automatically tidy up the stuffs and go to bed. When Mama Elena gives commands, all the people in the will directly do what she says. Even the action done by the people in the house is systematically arranged, and no one, including Tita, dares to disobey the

feel that the command is irritating. It proves that Tita is obedient towards her

mother’s commands.

In De la Garza family there is a tradition which states that the last daughter cannot get married. She should take care of her mother until her mother died. Tita, as the last daughter in the family is forbidden to get married and she should take care of Mama Elena. Unfortunately, there is a man named Pedro who falls in love with Tita, and so does she. Finally, Pedro marries Tita’s sister Rosaura but they still live in the same house with Tita. Mama Elena always warns Tita not to be near Pedro.

... You'll be sorry if I ever catch you around Pedro again.” After Mama Elena's threats, Tita tried to keep as much distance as she could between herself and Pedro (Esquivel: 1989: 39).

Tita’s effort to make a distance with Pedro shows that she is an obedient daughter. She does not disobey her mother’s warning even though she wants to be with Pedro. Tita can do nothing but follows her mother’s command.

Another proof which shows Tita’s obedience is when she gets flowers from Pedro. Mama Elena watches that moment and her presence makes Tita aware of what she should do to the flowers, as stated: “With just a look Mama Elena sent Tita away to get rid of the roses” (Esquivel, 1989: 48). Tita’s awareness to hurriedly throw away the flowers shows her obedience to her mother’s warning of her intimacy with Pedro.

are grateful. Yet, Tita is patient enough to deal with those ungrateful people. As a good daughter, Tita takes care of her mother’s needs patiently. In the ranch, Tita has a duty to prepare her mother’s bathing which requires extra concern and patience.

Preparing Mama Elena's bath was quite a ceremony (Esquivel, 1992: 93). …

She brushed Mama Elena's hair until it was thoroughly dry, braided it, and that completed the liturgy. Tita always thanked God that her mother only bathed once a week, because otherwise her life would be a real cross to bear. In Mama Elena's opinion… no matter how hard Tita tried she always got an infinite number of things wrong (Esquivel, 1992: 94). Tita is always patient to serve her mother’s needs, even about her mother’s bathing steps which are such a ceremony, she never complains. Although her mother complains about her service, Tita never gets angry or even gives up serving her mother. She still manages to do all of her duty patiently. 2. The Description of Tita De la Garza in the Second Period

As stated above, Tita is a round character. She has a conversion of mindset which is delivered through her characteristic in the story. Her changing characteristic is her being obedience. In this period, Tita becomes disobedient and braver. These characteristics are in the second period which happens after Chencha brings the news that Roberto died in San Antonio because of digestive problem. In the first period, Tita tries to fulfill her obligation as a woman and a daughter. In the second period, Tita begins to show her refusal to the obligation

independent, and expressive woman.

One day, Tita gets news that Roberto died because of digestive problem. Mama Elena’s respond toward Roberto’s death makes Tita angry. Mama Elenadoes not show her longing of losing Roberto and even bans Tita to cry. Tita cannot understand her mother’s attitude. With her anger, she protests her mother, as stated:

Tita felt a violent agitation take possession of her being: … she calmly met her mother's gaze and then, instead of obeying her order, she started to tear apart all the sausages she could reach, screaming wildly. "Here's what I do with your orders! I'm sick of them! I'm sick of obeying you!" (Esquivel, 1989: 99).

That is the first time Tita disobeys and rebels her mother’s command. Even she looks directly into her mother’s eyes, which proves that she is not afraid of her mother’s pressure anymore. Tita accuses her mother as the cause of Roberto’s death, as stated: "You did it, you killed Roberto!" screamed Tita (Esquivel, 1989: 99). She blames Mama Elena because she is the one who commands Pedro and his family to move away so that Tita and Pedro will not be together. After Mama Elena separated Tita and Pedro by sending Pedro and his family to San Antonio, no one can give meals which fit Roberto’s digestion.

By screaming to her mother it shows that as a daughter, Tita does not obey her mother anymore. The words spoken by Tita’s mouth show that Tita is really fed up by her mother’s authoritativeness. Her anger to her mother is the

then Roberto’s death is the limit of her patience of those pressures.

Mama Elena is very angry with Tita’s disobedience. By being a daughter who disobeys her mother’s commands which most of them contains of patriarchal value, Tita shows that she also breaks the value of patriarchy which states that women should be submissive.

Her next rebellion toward her mother is when she thinks that she gets pregnant with Pedro. Mama Elena’s spirit haunts her and curses her pregnancy. Yet, the second time Mama Elena’s spirit comes to her, Tita has her defense and they argue at each other as seen from the dialogue below:

"See what you've done now? You and Pedro are shameless. If you don't want blood to flow in this house, go where you can't do any harm to anybody, before it's too late."

"The one who should be going is you. I'm tired of your tormenting me. Leave me in peace once and for all!"

"Not until you behave like a good woman, or a decent one at least! "What do you mean, decent? Like you?"

"Yes."

"But that's just what I'm doing! Or didn't you have an illicit child?" "You will be condemned to hell for talking to me like this!"

"No more than you!" (Esquivel, 1989: 199).

Tita becomes more rebellious to her mother. She does not only disobey her mother’s command but also she dares to remind Mama Elena about her past mistake which implies her refusal of her mother’s decency. Her mother always scolds her that she does not behave like a good woman, but Tita already knows

words.

As has been described, during her life under the same roof with Mama Elena, Tita’s freedom is very limited. She cannot have her own decision for her life, such as marrying the man she loves. After Roberto died, Tita leaves the house and being taken care of by Dr. John Brown. She suffers a depression because of her mother’s continual authoritativeness and also her nephew’s death. After recovered, she decides not to come back to the ranch.

As they were saying good-bye, Tita told Chencha her decision never to go back to the ranch again; she asked her to tell Mama Elena (Esquivel, 1989: 126).

Her decision not to go back to the ranch proves that Tita is able to choose the choice for herself. Tita becomes decisive and she decides to get her freedom. To go back to the ranch means that she also goes back to her mother’s authority, which also means that she will not be free. Therefore, she chooses not to go back. Tita becomes brave enough to decide her own destiny. Besides choosing not to go back to the ranch, Tita also thinks about staying with John and marries him.

She had to find someone who could kindle her desire. Could that someone be John? She was remembering the pleasant sensation that ran through her body when he took her hand in the laboratory. No. She wasn't sure. The only thing she was absolutely sure about was that she did not want to return to the ranch. She never wanted to live near Mama Elena again (Esquivel, 1989: 118).

tradition which bans her from getting married since she has to take care of her mother. She decides to get married and have her own life. By refusing the family tradition, it means that Tita gains her freedom.

Even though Tita decides not to go back to the ranch, unfortunately, one day she has to go back to take care of her sick mother. Some bandits attack Mama Elena and rape the maid Chencha. Therefore, Tita chooses to go back and takes care of her mother.Tita who comes back to the ranch is not the old Tita. She has transformed into an independent Tita. At the ranch, she dares to face her mother.

Her mother received her in silence. For the first time Tita firmly held her gaze, and Mama Elena lowered hers. There was a strange light in Tita's eyes (Esquivel, 1989: 129).

The strange light in Tita’s eyes is the reflection of her free spirit which can defend her from her mother’s influence. Her own willingness to take care of her sick mother shows her independence from her mother’s authoritativeness. Mama Elena’s response to Tita’s glance shows that Tita is stronger than before. She is no more under her mother’s pressure.

Tita’s devotion to her sick mother finally ends because her mother died of overdoses. After died, Mama Elena’s spirit still haunts Tita. Yet, Tita is encouraged to fight against her mother’s spirit. Tita’s courage to gain her full freedom finally reaches its top when she told her opinion about who she is and what she wants to her mother’s spirit.

"I know who I am! A person who has a perfect right to live her life as she pleases. Once and for all, leave me alone1 I won't put up with you! I hate you, I've always hated you!" (Esquivel, 1989: 199).

She declares her freedom by choosing what she wants to be in her life and toughly banishing Mama Elena’s spirit by saying that she hates Mama Elena. Those words which are purely from her deepest heart are able to send her mother’s spirit away.

When Mama Elena died, Rosaura and Pedro decide to stay at the ranch again. Pedro is jealous at John because he seesthe intimacy between John and Tita. Yet, it cannot be denied that Tita is Pedro’s true love and vice versa. The love between them reemerges and one night when there is a chance, they make love in the storeroom.

Without answering, Pedro went to her, extinguished the lamp, pulled her to a brass bed that had once belonged to her sister Gertrudis, and throwing himself upon her, caused her to lose her virginity and learn of true love (Esquivel, 1989: 158).

As a woman, Tita becomes more expressive in showing her love to Pedro. She does not refuse Pedro’s action. When Pedro throws himself upon Tita, she is no longer suppresses her passionate love to Pedro so that finally the make love. Her expressiveness also emerges when she has a conversation with Rosaura. In this conversation Tita’s emotion is exploding.

"I think you and I are overdue for a talk, don't you agree?

"Yes, I certainly do. We have been ever since you married my boyfriend."

to a boyfriend. You had no right to have a boyfriend."

"Says who? Is that according to Mama or to you?" (Esquivel, 1989: 213). "... I married him because that's what he wanted. If you had had the tiniest scrap of pride, you would have put him out of your mind forever." "Well for your information, he married you just so he could be near me. He doesn't love you, and you know that perfectly well." (Esquivel, 1989: 214).

From the conversation above, it can be seen that Tita obviously shows her hatred to Rosaura. She expresses her hatred to her sister in a state as no longer an obedient daughter or powerless sister but as a free woman. She is encouraged to express her true feeling of losing Pedro caused by the family tradition.

B. The Patriarchal Practices Experienced by Tita

It has been explained before that Tita lives in a patriarchal-rooted society. Therefore, the patriarchal practices are strongly applied. Tita as a woman and a daughter experiences some patriarchal practices. Those experiences are directly and indirectly happen to Tita. The indirect experiences mean that Tita witnesses the patriarchal practices happen to other women. Those patriarchal practices are discussed below.

1. Family Tradition

In De la Garza family, there is an inherited tradition which stated that the last daughter in the family cannot get married. She should take care of her mother until her mother dies (Esquivel, 1989: 10). Tita as the last daughter in the family is

receiver of the tradition feels oppressed. By applying the family tradition, it means that Tita’s freedom to gain her privilege and experience as a free woman is limited. If she cannot get married, she cannot experience the feeling as a wife and a mother. Even she is not allowed to experience love. Her feeling of being oppressed can be seen from the following thought:

Tita lowered her head, and the realization of her fate struck her as forcibly as her tears struck the table. From then on they knew, she and the table, that they could never have even the slightest voice in the unknown forces that fated Tita to bow before her mother's absurd decision … (Esquivel, 1989: 11)

Her tears show that she is very sad. She cries because she feels the force from the family tradition which even does not take her agreement first into a discussion. Meanwhile in her age as a normal young woman, Tita has fallen for Pedro, which later makes everything more difficult to her. Besides obeying the family tradition, she also should repress her feeling to the man that she loves.

This family tradition is included as a patriarchal practice because the tradition is directed only to daughter, not son. As it is known, patriarchy takes benefits from women, dominates, and limits women’s freedom (Andersen, 1997: 356). Therefore, De la Garza’s family tradition is considered as adopting the value of patriarchy because it limits the last daughter’s freedom in the family.

family tradition, the daughter who is prohibits to get married is the last daughter which means the youngest. The family tradition in De la Garzas has been applied for long time and no one in the family has ever disagreed with that tradition (Esquivel, 1989: 11). Therefore, De la Garza’s family tradition becomes stronger and cannot be broken. Even after Mama Elena’s death, Rosaura who finally gives birth to her last daughter applies the family tradition to her.She even thinks about not to let her daughter, Esperanza, to get any formal education. A formal institution and education are useless. She argues that Esperanza better learns to play some music instruments, sing, and dance so that she can take care of and entertain her mother until she dies. Rosaura’s decision to treat Esperanza in such a way proves that the patriarchal value in the society and in the family is very strong. Even after her mother died, she is still the tradition keeper and applies the tradition to her daughter.

That had been when Rosaura insisted that her daughter shouldn't attend school, since it would be a waste of time. If Esperanza's only lot in life was to take care of her mother forever, she didn't have any need for fancy ideas; what she needed was to study piano, singing, and dancing (Esquivel, 1989: 238).

Rosaura’s decision that her daughter does not need to get formal education since her duty is to take care of Rosaura forever, shows that the family tradition adopts the patriarchal value that women are not necessarily educated. Women are not prepared to be intellectual and stand for their own opinion as Lips

full attention and a readiness to impose opinions on them” (Lips, 1989: 3).

Women in this case actually are not only as the victims of patriarchy, but also as the extension. It is seen from Mama Elena’s and Rosaura’s decision to apply the family tradition to their last daughter. Mama Elena and Rosaura are considered applying “hegemony masculinity” as Connel said in her writing that this hegemony allows the dominance of men over women to continue. Mama Elena’s and Rosaura’s decision show that they continue the practice of patriarchy through the family tradition.

2. The Rules of Woman’s Attitude

The Mexican society is also strongly-rooted in religion. Catholic is the religion which is dominant in that country. Catholic has the portrayal of Lady Guadalupe as the role model for women. She is described as the symbols of innocence and purity, and she never complains about her destiny (Fernandez, 2009: 55).

Since Lady Guadalupe identical with the image of a good woman, so it is used as role model for Mexican women. The innocence, purity, and obedience of Lady Guadalupe then are related to the rules in patriarchy. Patriarchy also rules women to be obedient (Mirande, 1979: 475). For the purity, women are expected to be virgin before they get married (Gordillo, 2010: 66).

before get married. Mama Elena strictly applies that rule to her daughters. When Gertrudis, her second daughter, leaves the house and works at a brothel Mama Elena feels so upset. She disowns her, as stated:

“… what nearly killed her was when she got the story from Father lgnacio, the parish priest-and who knew how he found out about it-that the next week Gertrudis was working in a brothel on the border. Mama Elena burned Gertrudis' birth certificate and all of her pictures and said she didn't want to hear her name mentioned ever again” (Esquivel, 1989: 58-59).

Gertrudis works as a prostitute. It can be concluded that Gertrudis does not only lose her virginity but also she gets a shameful job. That fact breaks Mama Elena’s heart down. She is very upset and does not want to remember Gertrudis anymore.

In Tita’s case, Mama Elena prohibits her to get closer to Pedro. She prohibits Tita to be near Pedro because she is afraid of their love relationship and their physical relationship. Mama Elena wants to keep Tita virgin. Even when Mama Elena dies, her soul still haunts Tita because she has had a sexual intercourse with Pedro. Unfortunately, Tita gets a late period so that she thinks that she is pregnant. Mama Elena’s soul gets angry at her, as seen:

“I told you many times not to go near Pedro. Why did you do it?” “I tried, Mami … but …”

“But nothing! What you have done has no name! You have forgotten all morality, respect, and good behavior. You are worthless, a good-for-nothing who doesn't respect even yourself. You have blackened the name of my entire family, from my ancestors down to this cursed

From the dialogue between Tita and Mama Elena above, it is obvious that women should keep themselves virgin. When they are not virgin anymore before getting married, they are considered as bad women who do not have good moral and behavior. They even have less value and are considered as a shame for the family. This obligation to keep their virginity before getting married is considered as a patriarchal practice because its basic root comes from the portrayal of Lady Guadalupe which seems to be the same as the expectation from patriarchal value toward women’s attitude. Patriarchal value expects women to be obedient (Mirande, 1979: 475) and to keep their virginity (Gordillo, 2010: 66), while Lady Guadalupe is well-known of her innocence, purity, and obedience. Therefore, when Mexican women are expected to follow the portrayal of Lady Guadalupe, unconsciously they are dogmatized to fulfill the expectation of patriarchal value.

Women are not only expected to keep their virginity but also not to expose their body, as Gordillo stated:

Mexican Porfirian elites (1876–1910) expressed moral indignation “over adultery, over the loss of virginity before matrimony … over the exhibition of women’s unclothed legs, and over the knowledge of anatomy (2010: 66).

Tita’s sister, Gertrudis, is a general on revolutionary troops. She really works and fights hard to reach her current position. Everyone admires her bravery

Rosaura’s decision.

"There's one thing for sure. I'm not going to allow you to poison your daughter with those sick ideas you have in your head. I'm not going to let you ruin her life either, forcing her to follow some stupid tradition!" (Esquivel, 1992: 215).

Tita bravely faces Rosaura and states her decision that she will protect Esperanza from Rosaura’s intention to prohibit her from getting married. Tita starts her action by taking care of Esperanza although Rosaura does not allow her. Later, after Rosaura’s death because of digestive problem, Tita and Pedro raise Esperanza and let her marry to Dr. Brown’s son, Alex. Tita does not let Esperanza experiences the misery she has. She wants Esperanza to experience her life as a free woman. By standing for Esperanza’s freedom, it shows that Tita does not want the other women to be oppressed by the patriarchal practices which give them loss in their life.

55 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION

This chapter concludes the analysis of the study. The researcher writes this thesis in order to reveal women’s resistance toward patriarchal practices seen through Tita’s characteristics. The researcher finds that Tita’s changing characteristics in fighting against the patriarchal practices is interesting. Her characteristics help her to get her freedom. By analyzing the story, the researcher comes up to some conclusion based on the finding from the answer of the questions formulated.

First, the researcher finds that as a daughter Tita is an obedient and patient daughter who always follows her mother’s command. As a woman Tita is skillful and caring, who masters in domestic cores. Her obedience toward her mother changes after her nephew whom she loves the most, Roberto, died. Tita changes into a braver woman. She becomes rebellious, decisive, independent, and expressive. She dares to disobey her mother and the limitation she gets.

Second, Tita experiences patriarchal practices such as: 1). family tradition which prohibits her from getting married, 2). rules of women’s attitude which obligates her to keep her virginity, and 3). division of gender roles which obligates women to master the domestic area. Those things are considered as patriarchal practices because they limit women’s freedom and they are believed as

the product of men’s authority.

Third, in gaining her freedom from the patriarchal practices, Tita makes some resistance against them. Her resistances are done through two ways which are: (1) passive aggression or non-verbal action such as questioning the family tradition and deciding not to go back home; (2) direct action such as making some protests to her mother and fighting against her older sister to stand for her niece, Eperanza’s, freedom. Tita makes those actions because she thinks that women deserve the freedom to express, to do, and to get what they want in the life that they live.

The last, Tita’s resistance against the patriarchal practices shows that to fight against patriarchal practices and oppressions, women do not need to do extreme movement such as physical struggle, but by bravely expressing their true selves, mind, and willingness women can gain their freedom. Tita’s case reveals that women can be both victim and extension of patriarchy but in the end it is the women’s choice to decide whether they will accept their fate as victim and extension of patriarchy or they want to free and be themselves. Tita’s case also

57

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